do you remember her? my great friend and an amazing photographer, terrie kellmeyer. while on vacation the past few days, terrie emailed me how her profoundly hearing impaired baby, poppy, just received a gift from an angel (literally!!) -- sam's loaner hearing aids. poppy (like her brother and my daughter) will be implanted with a cochlear implant in the the next year and until then, she will wear hearing aids, in case there is any chance of her having access to sound between now and then. here is what terrie shared --

i took poppy to her audiology appointment yesterday to be fitted for her hearing aids. after talking with joan and laurie and also the audiologist at children's hospital that did poppy's BAER test, i wasn't too optimistic that she would get any benefit from the aids, as her hearing loss is so profound. but, my friend that has a son that also has a profound loss was over at the beginning of the week and she said that her son had a huge benefit from the aids, and was able to distinguish some words by the time he was 12 months and received his implants.

joan and laurie had arranged for a pair of loaner aids for me, but now that i was more hopeful that there might be a benefit, i asked joan if they were good quality aids, because i wanted poppy to have every chance to hear as much as possible while we're waiting for her implants. she looked at me and said "these are VERY good aids" with a funny look on her face and i actually felt silly about even having asked the question...

she was fitted with the aids, and as i was getting ready to leave, joan looks at me and says "these were donated by sam's family........" both our eyes instantly filled with uncontrollable tears and i was completely and totally overcome with emotion. there was another family in the room waiting for their appointment who had no idea what was going on other than joan and i were crying over a pair of hearing aids...

i can't tell you how much the aids mean to me and to poppy. her presence in our lives continues to bring blessings to our family, and now i have a renewed sense of peace that a little piece of sam will live on through her and that she now has her own little angel up in heaven watching over her.....

laurie gave me some covers for the implants that are a little more "girly" than the black and white strips, but i won't have her wear them- she will wear her black and white aids proudly in honor of sam.

i took some photos to share with sam's family.

thank you deb for introducing me to sam through your blog and for all the blessings that have come my way simply through your friendship and your beautiful soul that loves to give to others.

lots of love to you!

terrie

here is sam, wearing his new hearing aids (in sep 09). i saw margot and sam at the audiologist's office, the day sam was fitted with his new hearing aids and i remember (like it was yesterday) margot sharing with me how excited sam was to have his new hearing aids with zebra covers.